SpaceX Crew-9 mission to “rescue” Sunita Williams is now about to launch – when and how can you watch?

SpaceX will launch two astronauts into orbit on Saturday to “rescue” Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. The Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at around 10:45 pm IST with a reduced crew and dock with the International Space Station in about 30 hours.

“The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the orbiting laboratory for a five-month science mission,” reads an excerpt from the mission page on the NASA website.

Updates released by the space agency indicate that the spacecraft’s hatch has already been closed and the launch remains on schedule. The space station will fly over northeastern Bulgaria at the time of launch.

If all goes well, the capsule is scheduled to dock with the ISS around 3:30 a.m. IST on Monday.

There is also the option to depart on Sunday or Monday if weather or other issues prevent the flight at the last minute.

Hague and Gorbunov will join the two “stranded” NASA astronauts (and several others) aboard the ISS as members of the Expedition 72 crew upon their arrival. The group will “conduct research, technology demonstrations and maintenance activities” over the next few months before Wilmore and Williams fly home on the SpaceX Crew-9 duo in February 2025.

The two NASA astronauts traveled to the ISS in early June for an eight-day mission that unexpectedly lasted eight months. Their Boeing Starliner experienced multiple helium leaks and engine failures during docking. After months of analysis and testing, NASA concluded that it was too risky to bring them home on the Boeing capsule. Instead, the agency and Boeing returned the spacecraft unmanned on September 6 and landed under parachutes in New Mexico.

(With contributions from agencies)